


Delivered!

by Leela_Comstock



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: UNIT, post office, stamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29978193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leela_Comstock/pseuds/Leela_Comstock
Summary: John is given a special honor. The question is how the brigadier receives it. Let’s stop by at U.N.I.T. and find out …





	Delivered!

The brigadier was very surprised to find a letter addressed personally to him on his desk. It lay between the usual military correspondence, bills and offers, and was so unusual between them that it immediately caught the officer’s attention.  
´ ´ The address was written on it in neat handwriting, but that wasn’t exactly what caught Lethbridge-Stewart’s eye. On the contrary, it slid straight up to the right, left his mouth open for a moment, speechless, and then a sigh escaped him. “Good grief!”  
´ ´ He hardly had to open the letter. He already had a guess as to who it came from. On the letter was a stamp with the happily grinning portrait of Sergeant Benton …

.~^~.

Will Simpson couldn’t help but laugh. “Did you really do that? You wrote a letter to the Brig?”  
´ ´ “Yes, of course!” Confirmed John as he and his comrade walked across the U.N.I.T. campus. “He has to know what he is up against, and best he can find out from me!”  
´ ´ “Yeah, but you could have just told him!” Will implied. “The old man gets a shock when you grin at him from the letter!”  
´ ´ “Oh, he can cope with that.” Claimed John. “He knows me.”  
´ ´ “Exactly.” Will commented dry-witted, in the tone that said he was convinced that John would bring the brigadier to the grave. “But tell me, how did it come about?” He pointed to the open page of the booklet in which the Post regularly presented the new postage stamps.  
´ ´ “That was actually very easy,” said John. “Some time ago I took a magazine like this with me from the post office because a military jeep was depicted on the cover. I have no idea why I felt addressed, but I thought to myself, I can take a look what’s behind it. And that was an article in which the Post announced that it would issue a new series of stamps on the military.”  
´ ´ “Ah, so several!” Recognized Will.  
´ ´ John nodded. “There was an appeal. They were still looking for motives. And then I thought to myself, maybe they still need a soldier in uniform. To be honest, I didn’t expected anything of it, but I just sent a few photos over there, in standard uniform, in a camouflage suit, with a beret, without a beret… This is it!” He made a presenting gesture towards the booklet in Will’s hand.  
´ ´ “Mmhm, in a camouflage suit with a beret, just like you would imagine a soldier to be. Only the grin doesn’t go with it. The brig would have driven that out of you very quickly.” Analyzed Will.  
´ ´ “He does that often enough!” Emphasized John. "For _that_ reason alone! He can’t do it _here_!” He tapped his portrait in the »Mint«-booklet with his finger.  
´ ´ “You mean, little postage stamp Johnny here is more confident of himself than you are of yourself!” Will gave his friend a deep look.  
´ ´ John paused, a little embarrassed. “Well, he can’t help it. At least he’s friendly and represents the military in a sympathetic way.”  
´ ´ Will pursed his lips. “Well, you’re a little self-assertive!" He smiled. “But you’re right. The picture turned out really nice. If one don’t want to join the military now, it’s their own fault. Especially the young women who want a handsome soldier as a friend.”  
´ ´ John coughed slightly. “Well, at least last month the brand with the military jeep came out as a prelude, and this month already mine. And now there will be a new one every month until the series is complete. I think there should be fourteen brands in total.”  
´ ´ Will grinned. The resolute way that John had broken off the last topic, the comment must have done something with him. “Then we will have something out of it for over a year.” He responded to the change of subject.  
´ ´ John nodded. "Maybe there will be also a real U.N.I.T. brand, who knows?”  
´ ´ “First let the Brig cope with this!” Will closed the booklet and put it in his pocket. “What did you actually write to him in the letter?”  
´ ´ “Oh, nothing special.” John said lightly. “I just wanted to inform him about the new stamp so that it doesn’t surprise him unprepared.”  
´ ´ The two men went on with a smile in the direction of the radar station, where the start of duty awaited them, thus suppressing the current topic for the time being.

.~^~.

In his office, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart picked up a letter opener. Shortly afterwards he pulled out the carefully folded A4 sheet of paper from which something else fell towards him. He put it aside thoughtfully and turned to the letter first. In John’s neat handwriting he could read there:

´ ´ “Dear Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart,  
´ ´ I am writing to you today to inform you that the new military stamps are currently being issued by the post office. As you have probably already seen, I was given the opportunity to represent our army a little.”

´ ´ Lethbridge-Stewart glanced at the envelope that was still open on the table, eye contact with a cheerful Sergeant Benton. “ _A little_?” He commented quietly to himself. He read on:

´ ´ “I am sending you a small gift so that you always have the right stamp to hand for your next correspondence.  
´ ´ Sincerely yours,  
´ ´ Sergeant Benton”

´ ´ Lethbridge-Stewart automatically picked up the folder that had enclosed the letter and showed the logo of the military series. He opened it unsuspecting and flinched back when he was grinned at twelve times from Sergeant Benton’s three-by-four self-adhesive stamps. “Good Lord …!”

**Author's Note:**

> This story belongs to a challenge. The task was:  
> ´ ´ Your main character was printed on a postage stamp. How does the honor come about and how do people around him react to it?


End file.
